VICTORIA — While it is too soon to say if there’ll be excitement in the actual race for the leadership of the B.C. New Democratic Party, the debate over when to hold the vote has been lively enough.

Party leader Adrian Dix raised the question on Sept. 18, the day he announced he would step aside once a successor is picked: “It is my hope that a leadership vote can be held by mid-2014 at the latest.”

Too soon, said some New Democrats. The result would be a predictable showdown between MLAs Mike Farnworth and John Horgan, respectively the second- and third-place finishers in the 2011 race won by Dix.

The prospect led others to look for someone free of ties to the government of the 1990s where Dix and Horgan were both aides, and Farnworth a cabinet minister.

Prime candidate: Nathan Cullen, MP for Skeena and at age 41, a dozen years younger than Farnworth and Horgan, both 54.

But Cullen was cool to making the switch, put off by the nasty personal side of provincial politics. He was also well-placed as House leader for the federal party and well paid — $50,000 more per year than the provincial leader of the Opposition.

“I’d have to drop from the federal scene ... to run for the leadership,” he told the Huffington Post in an Oct. 12 interview. “There would be a byelection. Those are all factors that keep me pointed toward the federal scene right now.”

Nor were his concerns only personal. “It is just too much of a panic,” he said of the proposed spring timing. “To do the kind of renewal we need after such a difficult loss last year takes time and can’t be rushed. Why not give the full 2014 over to that and have a really good leadership race? And also to attract in other candidates.”

Then came the announcement from Horgan that he was scrapping his plans to run for the leadership. Talking to reporters on Oct. 16, he echoed Cullen’s thinking that there was “no rush” and a longer leadership run would provide a better opening for the next generation of leaders.

Horgan’s references to making way for “younger leaders” and “new ideas” were an obvious swipe against Farnworth, who promptly fired back, “If you want to talk about new, winning an election would be new.”

The earlier convention date would presumably favour front-runner Farnworth, particularly if it prompted Cullen to stay out. But there was more to the debate about timing than a clash of personalities.

When Dix took over the leadership in the spring of 2011, he inherited a party that was staggered by the bitter internal fight that forced out previous leader Carole James in the fall of 2010 and still carrying $2 million in debt from the provincial election.

He set about raising money in fairly short order, presiding over what became the most successful fundraising drive in party history. Still, it was not until March of this year that the old debt was paid off — just in time for the party to launch into campaign 2013.

After that experience, Dix is concerned that his successor not be placed in a similar squeeze, which could easily happen if the leadership vote were put off until 2015.

Dix, a lame duck, is now a spent force in terms of fundraising. Nor can the party expect to raise much for itself while candidates are trying to rustle up dollars for their respective leadership bids.

Then, too, the provincial party has to keep in mind its reciprocal relationship with the federal party. Each cedes fundraising turf to the other in an election year and, as it happens, 2015 is the scheduled date for the next federal election.

The federal timetable accounts for some resentment toward Cullen. He’s not said he definitely WILL seek the provincial leadership if the job is held open until 2015; only that he would prefer not to have to make up his mind until then, raising suspicions that he’s simply hedging his bet.

In any event, if the provincial leadership were put off until 2015, the new leader would find him or herself having to make a cold start on fundraising for an election that would be held just two years later.

All this while the B.C. Liberals are well into the process of raising enough money to pay off their campaign debts from the last campaign, then create a war chest for the next one.

Not a happy scenario for the New Democrats, and one that explains why Dix has spoken out in favour of a vote in the first half of next year. The NDP executive agreed with his reasoning earlier this week, when it recommended to the party’s governing council that the leadership be decided May 25 of next year.

But when council took up the recommendation on a telephone conference call Wednesday, the discussion bogged down in a debate over process, overlain with the inevitable suspicions about motives and agendas.

The decision was put off until the full council (more than 100 local, regional and provincial representatives) convenes for its next meeting at the party convention in Vancouver Nov. 17.

New Democrats, deeply wounded by May’s election loss, can doubtless use additional healing time. But if that translates into a leadership campaign of 18 months or more, the party may find itself sending out for more bandages.

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